| Record | Pts | Div. Rank | G/G | GA/G | PP% | PK% | |
| Minnesota Wild | (2-1-1) | 5 | 2nd NW | 2.25 (19) | 2.00 (12) | 17.6% (12) |
86.7% (13) |
| Detroit Red Wings |
(3-0-0) | 6 | 1st Central | 3.33 (4) | 1.00 (2) | 0.0% (25) | 80.0% (23) |
| Minnesota Wild | |||
| Top 5 Scorers: | G | A | Pts |
| 1. #7 Matt Cullen | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 2. #15 Dany Heatley | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 3. #48 Guillaume Latendresse | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| 4. #10 Devin Setoguchi | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 5. #9 Mikko Koivu | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Top 3 Penalty Minutes: | PIM | ||
| 1. #48 Guillaume Latendresse | 6 | ||
| 2. #28 Matt Kassian | 5 | ||
| 3. #22 Cal Clutterbuck | 4 | ||
| Goaltenders: | GAA | SV% | |
| 1. #32 Niklas Backstrom (2-1-1) | 1.94 | .928 | |
| 2. #37 Josh Harding (0-0-0) | 0.00 | .000 | |
| Detroit Red Wings |
|||
| Top 5 Scorers: | G | A | Pts |
| 1. #13 Pavel Datsyuk | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 2. #26 Jiri Hudler | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 3. #48 Cory Emmerton | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 4. #44 Todd Bertuzzi | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 5. #93 Johan Franzen | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Top 3 Penalty Minutes: | PIM | ||
| 1. #8 Justin Abdelkader | 5 | ||
| 2. #4 Jakub Kindl | 4 | ||
| 3. #18 Ian White | 4 | ||
| Goaltenders: | GAA | SV% | |
| 1. #35 Jimmy Howard (2-0-0) | 1.50 | .947 | |
| 2. #29 Ty Conklin (1-0-0) | 0.00 | 1.000 | |
| . | |||
I must admit, this is always a game that I completely dread. Arguably the most complete and dominating team the last 20 years, the Red Wings simply force opponents to execute to near perfection in order to defeat them. Any mistakes you make against them are amplified. Not the kind of game you want to play with lots of new faces and an inexperienced blue line. Another facet of Detroit’s game that concerns me is their ability to plant a forward in front of our goaltender and cause havoc, and Minnesota’s defense is not overly physical to uproot players like Tomas Holmstrom, Johan Franzen or Todd Bertuzzi or whoever else the Red Wings decide to use in that role.
Offensively the Wild have struggled to score, and none of the teams they’ve faced thus far can be called defensive juggernauts. Minnesota needs to get production from its top players if it expects to upset the red hot Red Wings this evening. The Wild will give Josh Harding his first start of the 2011-12 season against Detroit tonight. Harding didn’t start any regular season games last year, after tearing his ACL and MCL in a pre-season game against the St. Louis Blues. I am sure Harding is thankful for that opportunity, but he also knows he’s going to be in for a helluva battle this evening.
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Guillaume Latendresse skipped practice on Friday with a sore hip but he’s expected to be good to go this evening. Latendresse has not been a factor in terms of lighting the lamp but he has been a nice set up man on a 2nd line that has experienced a resurgence from veteran Matt Cullen. I think it will take more than the 2nd line to win tonight’s game; so the top line of Mikko Koivu, Dany Heatley and Devin Setoguchi must find a way to strike offensively.
The game will also begin with some heavy hearts as the State of Hockey News would like to send our thoughts to families of Braedon Hyland, 18, who passed away after a tragic car accident as well as wishing a hopeful recovery of 17-year old Blake Sowle. Both are students at East Ridge High School, the same school where former Wild forward Wes Walz served as head coach and his son was its star player. Wild Head coach Mike Yeo’s daughter is a student at East Ridge, and the tragedy affected him so much he shared it during a press conference a day before tonight’s game. I have a feeling the Wild will recognize this tragedy, perhaps with “Let’s Play Hockey.” Hopefully their strength and perseverance through this tragedy will give the Wild the boost it needs to come away with a victory.
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